Facilitating Oncology Patient-Clinician Communication Via E-health Innovations

The Internet-based program CaringGuidance™ After Breast Cancer Diagnosis and its new
electronic Summary Report (CGSR) tool are hypothesized to empower patients to raise their
emotional and social concerns during oncology consultations and assist medical oncology
clinicians in identifying patient needs. The purpose of this study is to assess satisfaction
and feasibility of clinical use of the new patient guided, Internet-based CGSR to support
patient-clinician communication in the outpatient breast oncology clinic. The study will
enroll 30 women who are being treated for breast cancer. They will all have access to the
CaringGuidance™ program for at home use on computer or mobile device for approximately one
month (or up to 6 months depending on when they return to their primary medical oncologist
for evaluation). Following this, these women will meet with the researcher or research
assistant prior to a medical oncology appointment and create a CGSR on an iPad while they
talk through the process with the researcher. Women will complete demographic data and
assessment of coping prior to receiving access to the program and at this appointment. These
assessments will help characterize the emotional state at the time of working with the
program and the CGSR, these measures are not to assess the efficacy of the program.
Clinicians will complete a brief, one-time demographics survey prior to enrollment of
patients to the study. Women will take the CGSR into their oncology appointment, record the
appointment if she and the physician have consented to this, and use the CGSR as much or as
little as desired. Clinicians will complete a brief satisfaction survey following the
appointment and patients will debrief (recorded) about whether they used the CGSR and their
impressions following the appointment. Data will be analyzed primarily qualitatively to
determine women's appraisal of the functionality, content satisfaction and usability of the
CGSR and the communication patterns, topics discussed during the appointment and
patient/clinician satisfaction with communication during the appointment when the CGSR was
available for use. Data will be used for future modification of the CGSR to assure that it
meets patients' needs prior to initiating a larger scale trial.